How to Turn Your Side Hustle Into a Successful Business

Going off to start a new business, and becoming your own boss sounds like a dream to many people. Gaining the title of entrepreneur will take a lot of hard work and a lot of guts, but with the right idea, you can be successful. But don’t quit your day job, just yet. Even if you’ve dreamt about it for a long time, you might want to consider keeping your new business as a side hustle at first.

Keeping your new business a side hustle until it gets off the ground allows you to tweak your business strategy using real customers and business situations, plus you will get some seed revenue, all before you start depending on it to pay the bills. If you already have a great idea, start to lay the groundwork for your new business, gain some initial experience, and when you’re ready, take the leap.

Lay The Groundwork

Before you can go full time with your new business and before you even start working with clients, you must first build a solid foundation for your brand. The business name is first of course, but shortly afterward you need to start thinking about logo designs, mission statements legal/tax requirements, and business strategies. Maybe not the most glamorous part of starting your own business, but necessary steps that will keep you out of trouble later on. Once you get all of that figured out, you will need to build a website.

Building your website is one of the most exciting parts of creating a brand because it’s often the first time sharing your business idea with the outside world. The website is also usually the first expense for a new business, as so many entrepreneurs don’t know that they can build a website on their own, without coding experience, for just a few dollars per month. Instead of paying thousands for a website, you can choose to use a website builder with pre-designed templates, and a drag and drop editor to create your business website in just one afternoon.

Gain More Experience

Whether you’re already in a field that’s related to your new business not, your brand needs to build up its street cred. Starting to take on clients slowly, before you turn your side hustle into your day job, will help you tweak your products or services to fit the needs of your target audience. It can also help fund your growth as you start to transition from part time to full time and as you consider hiring your first employee(s).

Once you start selling products and gaining revenue, you should start to test different marketing strategies. Gathering email leads, testing messaging and trying out different marketing channels before you go full time means you’ll know what works and what doesn’t before you go all in. Then, when you do make the transition and go off on your own, you can rely on the lessons you’ve learned to really lean into your marketing spend and make the most of your side hustle experience to start drawing in significant revenue.

Take The Leap

You’ve done all that you can to prepare your business, and yourself, for this moment. Maybe you’ve tested out a few different marketing strategies and have been able to pull in enough clients that you’re becoming too busy for a day job. If the revenue is stable, now might be the time to make the leap.

If you do decide now is the right moment, make sure to leave your day job gracefully. Even if your small business does succeed, your former boss or colleagues may be useful for networking later on. They might even become clients of yours if you make your transition really smooth.

What If Is Doesn’t Work?

Another huge benefit of starting off slow and keeping your business your side hustle is that there less risk. Instead of lighting your desk on fire at your current day job to go off and start your new business, you’ve taken the time to set up a website, test your concept, try our some marketing activities, and even procure a few clients.

The other benefit of taking it slow is that you can test different business models with the same idea until you find the right fit. You might think your idea is perfect for consumers across the globe, but after building a website, you might be seeing other businesses, rather than individuals, as your main source of income. Then you’ll know even before you go off on your own that your new business is actually more successful as a business to business (B2B) brand instead.

The Time To Start Is Now

You have an idea, you might even have your name ready, but until you start sharing your idea with the world, inside your head is where your business is going to stay. If you can start laying the groundwork for your new business as a side hustle while still working your day job, you’ll start gaining the experience you need to eventually take the leap and make it your full-time job.

The only way to know if your business is going to work is to give it a shot. Start building a website for your new idea today. iPage has affordable web hosting, a free, easy to use website builder, and 24X7 support to help if you do hit a snag. Seize the opportunity now to turn your idea into a side hustle and watch it blossom into a full fledged business.

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